Words from the Water from Captain Mike Costello

Why Captain Mike, are we fishing this particular piece of nondescript water?

A question that has frequented my boat numerous times over the last 30 years, and 6000 days of guiding clients with a fly rod! Now I typically answer these questions with some elaborate description of the bottom structure, current flow, fish highway,ect, but what I really want to say is, “because there’s f…….ing fish there!!!

Back in 1990 when I chose to pursue this crazy, addicting, passion the “information highway” was very limited. Magazines and videos were helpful, but typically the “school of hard knocks” and time on the water were the best form of instruction, and guides and other anglers took a “vow of silence, when it came to “secret fishing spots.”

Oh, how things have changed! Today, once the “jungle telegraph” goes into warp speed and sacred GPS spots are given away like toys in a McDonalds Happy Meal, a lot of anglers choose only to fish when they get a favorable fishing report from an easy to find spot. One of the best interviews I ever read, was in Andy Mill's book, “A Passion For Tarpon”. In the book, one of my “guide idols”, Captain Steve Huff, talks about fishing the famous big tarpon spot, in Homosassa, Fl. for the first time. He is quoted in the book as saying, “I do not want anybody to help me because in my opinion, if somebody tells you where the fish are they have stolen from you because then you cannot find them for yourself and have the thrill of finding them for yourself. -it steals the thrill of discovery.”

My mantra for all bass and striper anglers in this high tech world we live in is to get out and “chuck and duck” “glide and slide” push that envelope, "FISH HARD",and find that next elusive "pot of gold at the end of the rainbow!"

- Captain Mike Costello